Payne & Van den Bergh Set Up World Youth Final

JOSH PAYNE and Dimitri Van den Bergh will contest the PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship final on Sunday November 26 after winning through Monday's early rounds in Wigan.

English thrower Payne, 23, will contest his first World Youth Championship final later this month after winning five games as the Last 64 of the £50,000 event played off.

He defeated German teenager Nico Blum 6-4 in his opening match before seeing off Adam Hunt 6-2, defeating Dutch prospect Justin van Tergouw 6-5 and then whitewashing Belgium's Kenny Neyens in the quarter-finals.

Payne then ended Corey Cadby's defence of the World Youth Championship title with a 6-3 triumph over the Australian in the semi-finals, securing his place in the decider.

Payne led Cadby 5-0 before missing three darts for another whitewash win, with the Tasmania-born reigning champion claiming three legs in reply before seeing his rival finally close out the win.

Belgium's Van den Bergh, a three-time winner on the PDC Unicorn Development Tour this year, sealed his place in the final in a tight last four clash with Luke Humphries.

Development Tour Order of Merit winner Humphries - who claimed five titles this year - took out a superb 146 checkout at 5-4 down to level against Van den Bergh, but a missed bullseye in the decider allowed the Belgian back in on tops for the win.

Van den Bergh opened his day with a 6-0 win over Qingyu Zhan, and then defeated Rhys Griffin 6-3, Scott Dale 6-5 and Ted Evetts 6-4 on his way through the field.

Payne and Van den Bergh will now compete for the £10,000 first prize on Sunday November 26 on stage at the Butlins Minehead Resort, with the final being held between the semi-finals and final of the Mr Green Sport Players Championship Finals.

Both players also qualify for the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts, while Payne has the additional incentive of knowing that a place in the 2017/2018 William Hill World Darts Championship is on offer should he win the final, with Van den Bergh already having qualified for Alexandra Palace.

Cadby, meanwhile, had defeated Sam Head, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Mike De Decker and Jeffrey de Zwaan on his way to the last four.

Humphries progressed past Rob Hewson, Jarred Cole, Rhys Hayden and Martin Schindler as he sought to follow up his Development Tour success with World Youth Championship glory.

Schindler and De Zwaan were joined in the quarter-finals by Neyens and Evetts, while 2015 World Youth Champion Max Hopp won through to the last 16 before losing out to Neyens.

Top seed Benito van de Pas was a first round casualty as he lost out 6-5 to Dutch rival De Zwaan.